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The Quarterly Publication of 
the Historical and Philosoph¬ 
ical Society of Ohio 


CINCINNATI OHIO 



By Transfer 

AUG 8 1918 

Vol. XIII, 1918, No, I 
JANUARY-MARCH 



/£/ s 
(jSf 

{*#.( co ** 

5 % 






Entered at the Pobt-Ofeice at Cincinnati as Second-Class Matter. 















Historical and Philosophical 
Society of Ohio 

Burnet Woods, - Cincinnati ) Ohio 


OFFICERS 



! »;v, 

President. 


Vice-President. 


JOSEPH WILBY, - 
FRANK J. JONES, 
HOWARD C. HOLLISTER, 
CHARLES T. GREVE, - 
FREDERICK W. HINKLE, 
LARZ W. ANDERSON, 
MISS L. BELLE HAMLIN, 
ALBERT H. CHATFIELD, 
DAVIS L. JAMES, 
MERRICK WHITCOMB, - 
ELLIOTT H. PENDLETON, 
JAMES W. BULLOCK, - 


Vice-President. 
Corresponding Secretary. 
Recording Secretary. 
Treasurer. 

Librarian. 

- Curators. 


COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF PUBLICATION 


CHARLES T. GREVE FREDERICK W. HINKLE 


MISS L. BELLE HAMLIN 






Quarterly Publication of the His¬ 
torical and Philosophical 
Society of Ohio 


Vol. XIII, 1918, No. 1 
JAN UARY-M ARCH 


Selections from the William Greene 
Papers, I 

* 


CINCINNATI 

THE ABINGDON PRESS 


Monograph 






< 

























The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio published in 
their Quarterly, IX, No. 3, 1914, a series of letters of the Honor¬ 
able Thomas Corwin to Oran Follett, Esq., of Sandusky, Ohio. 
Recently the Society has acquired, through the generosity of 
Miss Annie L. Roelker, additional letters of his, written to Wil¬ 
liam Greene, Esq., an attorney of Cincinnati, and a close per¬ 
sonal friend of the writer, to whom he gave his thoughts, or fan¬ 
cies, as well as views on various subjects, with entire freedom, in 
his impulsive, open-hearted manner, quite regardless of methods 
of expression. These letters are characteristic of the man, evi¬ 
dencing his integrity, justice, loyalty to his political party and 
friends, and, also, his abhorrence of political intrigue and the 
sacrifice of truth and honor to self interest. It is thought they are 
of sufficient interest to justify their publication. 

Mr. Greene was a strong abolitionist and actively interested 
in politics, particularly in the William Henry Harrison campaign. 
He was a successful lawyer and, Ford in his “History of Cincin¬ 
nati,” p. 316, states that “He was an able and learned man, and 
did a large business” and “Once or twice was a candidate for 
Congress, but unsuccessfully.” In 1866 he returned to his native 
State of Rhode Island, where he served as Lieut. Governor. For 
further account see Quarterly XII, No. 4, p. 157, 1917. 

L. B. Hamlin. 


LETTERS OF THOMAS CORWIN 1 TO 
WILLIAM GREENE, 2 1841-1851 


I 


(Private) Lebanon 12th May 1841 

Dear Sir 

I have been confined to my bed since Sunday with a pretty 
fierce intermittant fever. I had heard that you expected a Dip¬ 
lomatic appointment of some grade. 

I rec[eive]d a letter from Ewing 3 on Saturday last (in reply to 
one from me recommending a young man of Cincinnati for the 
consulate at Havanna) in which he informed me that he wished 
to give that appointment to you. This was news indeed to me; 
I had insisted that the consul at Havanna should come from 
Cinci, & replied to Ewing’s letter immediately saying all I could 
under the circumstances in favor of your appointment. From 
the tenor of Ewing’s letter I am sure he wishes to serve you. You 
misunderstand him, you are not acquainted with him well 
enough to interpret his conduct. 

I have had occasion to condemn this mode of dispensing 
patronage too. I do not understand it but we must remember 
the great difficulties inherent in such business & believe (as I do) 
that all is done with the best intentions. I must to bed again. 

Yrs very truly 

Tho Corwin 

W. Greene 

[Cincinnati, Ohio.] 


1 These letters of Corwin’s were written during the years he was Gov. of 
Ohio, 1841-2; U. S. Sen. 1845-50; Sec. of Treas. 1850-53. Cf. Quar. IX, 3. 

2 See previous page. 

3 Thomas Ewing, then (1841) Sec. of Treas. 

4 


t 



II 


(Private) Lebanon 2d July 1841 

Dear Green 

I reed a letter thro Gov Morrow 4 from Washington city, from 
you this morning. I wrote long ago to Ewing & Tyler * 6 & I think 
also to Webster 6 saying all I could invent in the way of argu¬ 
ment respecting your appointment. You may know probably 
that I recommended another early in the winter for this same 
place. I did this at the instance of some one or two very repu¬ 
table citizens of Cincinnati] without any knowledge that you 
wished the appointment. I explained to Ewing my situation 
growing out of this state of things & if the rogues at the Capitol 
think my opinion or wishes worth any thing they have them. I 
confess I have felt some mortification at some few things they 
have done there lately where I had given my advice at their 
request, but I take it for granted that some controlling necessity 
was at work & so console my wounded pride. 

I did intend to go on to Washington but have been prevented 
by business partly public & partly private. I see Judge Wright 7 
has been there & he I know has done all that any one could for 
you. 

Yr friend 

W Green Esqr Thos Corwin 


III 

Lebanon 15 th Jany 1842 

Dear Green 

I have reed your letters written within the last week. They 
reached me here, after traveling by me to Columbus & back 
again. Well what are we to have next? That is a question 
which your citizens may as well ask and answer for themselves 
now. Do not imagine, that the spirit which has been invoked 

4 Jeremiah Morrow, M. C. at this time. 

6 John Tyler, President. 

6 Daniel Webster, in Tyler’s cabinet. 

7 Judge John C. Wright, in 1841 was Ed. of Cin. Gazette. 

5 



to plunder & destroy the hateful & pestiferous, will rest, & nicely 
discriminate before it proceeds to havock again; never was that 
Devil conquered & tolerated, without drenching his friends with 
the red cup of slaughter before he left them. Such is man how¬ 
ever. With all the bloody pictures in the book of time before his 
eyes, he gravely declares himself & his time an exception, & pro¬ 
ceeds to add another Chapter to the work, & another name to 
the Catalogue of self deceived—fools. Your citizens must have 
winked at all the diablerie set forth in your newspapers. It could 
not have been otherwise—and King Mob, will make them wink 
whether they will or not, when he proceeds according to his 
sovereign pleasure to enforce King Law in their cases, for this 
afsd [aforesaid ] King Mob has in all time been remarkable for 
his most stern impartiality. He will not even recognize the book¬ 
ish distinctions, between the good & the bad, the right & the 
wrong. Besides he is the true sovereign “pure divine.” His 
proscription dates back to the Morning of time. He first was 
born of woman, mobbed & murdered, the second Cain pro¬ 
claimed this right & from that moment through the old Chaldean, 
Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek & Roman times, his Majesty with 
various fortune, has still preserved himself, sometimes a first, & 
never less than a second rate power. God help us, whither do we 
tend? What a brief story is the history of a great nation—Chap. 

1 Liberty- Chapter 2 Glory- Chapter 3 Wealth- Chapter 4 
Vice- Chapter 5 Corruption- Chapter 6 Anarchy- Conclusion 
Barbarism, Despotism, Oblivion, Finis. After all that has been 
written, is not my book without preface, note or appendix, the 
very truest & therefore the very best. As to the Why’s, the Laws, 
& such like silly & unphilosophical stuff, to what end should they 
be inserted ? Has any man or any nation ever acted wisely because 
they were wisely instructed? Name one if you can, & then I will 
hurra for the March of Mind, & drink toasts in cold water, to the 
Memory of the 19th Century. Good night. I go to Columbus 
in the morning to contradict a lie. What an errand!! It cannot 
be done otherwise so go I must & will. Pray drop me a line say¬ 
ing when you will get up another robbery—I am in want of a 
little cash & will attend. This is a great age for benevolent so¬ 
cieties—your way of supplying the poor I like; it is so prompt & 
certain, & no tears, prayers, & such like New Testament foolery. 
A stab—a thrust—& your purse is full. 


6 


A big fee those by law protected 
Liberty’s a glorious feast 
Courts for cowards were erected 
Churches built to please the Priest. With such a 
lullaby I shall sleep sound. Good night again, & may God bless 
you with long life & a cold, tough heart. 


W Green 


Thos Corwin 


IV 


Lebanon 21st March 1842 

Dear Sir 

I have perused carefully as possible, the strange correspond¬ 
ence you sent me. I am puzzled by the suspicions and con¬ 
jectures to which it gives rise in my mind. That Mr Webster 
is your friend I do not doubt. It is natural, nay necessary from 
his nature that he should be so. But to what extent he would 
go against his party & conventional friends to serve you is what 
cannot be exactly determined. That he has these two classes of 
friends & these two adversary motives to ballance is beyond a 
doubt. Is he Daniel Webster as Daniel was he must be & desires 
to be your friend. Is he Danl Webster Secy of State, John Tyler 
being President, he must be the friend officially of many a man 
whom he really abhors. His self love & supposed self interest 
have placed him in a false, an abominable position. He is the 
bond slave to a weak ambitious egotist, whom he secretly de¬ 
spises. He therefore is driven to assume, & to palter in a double 
sense, to prevaricate & possibly to do worse, if worse than these 
can be imagined. That he has no power beyond his Master’s will 
is certain, since he admits he has been laboring to serve you & 
cannot. I do not see that you can do any thing to place you in a 
more honorable or even favorable position than that you now 
occupy. I am not however skilled in these matters & would 
rather be governed by Judge Wright’s opinion than my own. I 
shall be in the city in a few days & can talk more fully on the 
subject. 

Yr friend 

W Green, Esq. Cina, Ohio Thos. Corwin 

7 


V 


Lebanon 13th Feby 1844 

Dear Green, 

At 8 P. M. and rather sorely fatigued with professional toil I 
sit down, stupid as if I had swallowed a hogshead of the waters of 
Lethe, to give reasons, apologies or vain excuses for not answer¬ 
ing your letter sooner—and by the way to scold a little at you. 
You don’t like the nomination of Spencer 8 because he is not an 
old hard working Whig. My friend, are you serious? Are you in 
earnest when you offer this gravely as an objection to a candi¬ 
date? Have you no rationality in you, or about you—Are “ye 
clean daft!” Do you expect to see—Did you ever see—Did you 
ever learn, from fable, legend, or historical record, that the sober 
unobtrusive virtue of hard work, was in this world, rewarded, 
nay, even so much as known as a fact existing & capable of proof 
by any respectable number of living witnesses? No, no, this God 
help us, is not our way in this quack grammar school “below the 
sun,” how it may in Eternity’s University—yes, how it may be 
there. Why, pray, you ask your talking club that question. How 
it ought to be that I know, I think, right well—but these two 
words ought & is, I should think a man of fifty or near it, might 
have had some experience touching the difference between them. 
Now hear the reasons on tother side. Spencer has been a Judge & 
a reasonably good one, he has been at a Newark convention of 
young men in ’42 when and where he spake to these same youth 
with reasonable eclat, Mark that- these youth go back to every 
Co[unty] in the State & cry glory! to young Judge Spencer. Then 
again he goes to the Grand Lodge at Lancaster & makes a fine 
oration, touching charity brotherly kindness & the Squire & the 
brethren say Amen so mote it be, & glad of heart they shake 
brother Spencer by the hand & cry God bless you, & from thence 
there is carried forth into all corners of the State balmy good will 
& favorable knowledge of this same now newly proposed governor. 
Now don’t you see that there is in this man the stuff of which 
popularity is made up. What next of a character to stand to, 
belongs to Oliver? He is a sensible, reasonably well informed 
man & to all common intents honest, with a right social good fel¬ 
lowship sort of a heart. Why not make a Gov [ernor] of this same 
man then. 

8 Judge Oliver M. Spencer, Jr., 1809-1858, of Cincinnati. Cf. Greve’s Cent. 
Hist, of Cincinnati, I, 769. 


8 





As to his being fooled to this purpose by Fisher 9 & Co., that I 
am sure is a mistake, I named him myself when in Cincinnati] 
last, before I had heard any thing said of him as a candidate, & I 
doubt not the sin (if such it be) of suggesting him out lies at my 
door. Now dont you fly into a pet & say—look you Corwin I 
did not think you were such a fool. I wish we may get as good a 
man as Spencer. Think you of whom & from whom the public 
will compel us to choose. Fisher, good hearted, sound hearted, 
but not enough strong headed, Fisher, is the man, so far as the 
general brunt goes yet. I prefer, hear me, I am in earnest, I do 
greatly prefer Spencer. Good night, I have unburthened myself 
& come what will I know I have laid my thoughts upon the 
heart of a friend, let its faithful too partial pulsations rock them 
into the sleep of oblivion. Oh this terrible business of taking 
care of the Republic. Nebuchadnezzer, Alexander, Caesar, 
Genghis Kahn, Bajazet, Tamerlane, Napoleon, Dr. Francia, ye 
are the men I honor, your way was so short, so easy. Sun stand 
thou still on Gibeon!!! My heroes afsd[aforesaid] talked very 
much after that fashion- they were obeyed or if not, off went a 
head or so & the word was made good. How different our Babel! 
But I am growing garrulous—prolix, & so good night, pleased or 
in wrath. May God bless you. 

W Green Tho Corwin 

Cincinnati, Ohio 


VI 


Lebanon 27th Nov 1844 

Dear Green, 

Let us have an end to complaining. The world is only going 
on at its old gate, what right have we to an exemption from the 
follies & fate of the rest of Adam & Eve’s sons and daughters. 
Let calamity come, it is better for us than lies & hypocrisy. I 
very much prefer that all the ills consequent on the measures 
asked for by the hot & soft headed southerners should be mixed 
into one infernal drink and swallowed by the whole people of the 

9 Hon. David Fisher, lacked only three votes of being made Governor of 
Ohio in the Whig Convention, 1844, beaten by Mordecai Bartley. The ref¬ 
erence is probably to him as he was always a strong whig and republican. 

9 



Union, than that the being Demagogue should first gull them & 
then avoid the certain doom that awaits him when he fulfils his 
promises. Our Whigs cry out “stand by your arms—the country 
needs you now to save it”!! The scoundrell liars of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, are beginning to whine & pray that their sweet little god 
Polk may not frown on Protection. Never never shall we get rid 
of that pestilent breed of Demagogues till we allow them to prove 
their faith by their works. Let us have free trade, let us have 
Texas attempted , mark that attempted , to be annexed—Let a joint 
resolution to that effect pass, let us have war with Mexico with 
England’s gold & ships to help her. Let all this with taxation to 
the teeth & then the miserable dupe weeping out of his coal mine 
or Iron Bank half starved, but still strong with desperation, wilt 
grapple the swindler that deceived him by the throat & pull out 
from its roots the tongue that told him the Whigs were foes to the 
poor laborer. This cheerful lesson alone can break the alle¬ 
giance that honest ignorance owes & pays to the Demagogues. I 
had much rather my children should live on acorns & Beech nuts 
than grow up in wealth amongst a people whose daily example 
teaches that lies & dissimulation are the only instruments of suc¬ 
cess. We shall see the southern disunionist & the northern & 
western swindler meet! Aye and that in one week from this time 
& less. What then, mutual distrust, reciprocal complaint, & in the 
end mortal quarrel & deadly hatred. The Whigs meantime are 
expected by the rascal of N[ew] York & the mongrel fool & 
knave of Pennsylvania to step in & save the country, he & they 
meantime living & revelling on the plundered offices of the Re¬ 
public. Is this to be endured? It is expected. Better in my 
judgment would it be in the long run to let the abused & misled 
see & feel for once that their Architects of evil can ruin them, 
then we are rid of them for twenty years at least. I know this is 
by some considered wrong in every sense. Show me any other 
hope of cure for the disease & I will adopt it at once. 

Never would I unite with these enemies of God & man in their 
own proper work, but I only ask good men to let them alone, that 
the people may see & believe , for without seeing it done & actually 
wrought out they will not believe, that any thing else than their 
Democracy is to be trusted. I am writing this for you only . 
These are my own individual feelings & opinions. I may be in a 
situation soon where the opinions & wishes of many others 
would require me to modify & greatly mollify my theories. 

10 


You speak of the Judgeship of the Superior court as a place 
you might accept, & ask me to say a word in that behalf. I can 
& will do so, but you just remember, that first of all, & most 
potent will be the word of the Whig bar of Cinci[nnati.] Let me 
admonish you therefore to look in that direction for strength. 
I go to Columbus in a day or two, where I shall spend two weeks 
—at court not at the legislature. Here or there I am yr friend 
W Greene, Esq. Tho Corwin. 


VII 


Lebanon 5th Feby 1845. 

Dear Friend 

I am so exactly situated between pressing duty & a somewhat 
lazy moral sense that I scarcely know which way to turn & stand 
straight. I have a business engagement at home which cannot 
be disposed of until Saturday next & I am compelled to be at 
Butler court on the 17th Inst. I must therefore I believe set out 
on Sunday next, so as to be at Columbus on Monday morning. 

I find the Hacks do not now (as formerly they did) stop at 
Xenia. So as we have to be out all night we had as well take the 
warmest coach. But again on the hack line you will go from 
Cincinnati], to Columbus for $2, in the other I suppose you pay 
$5 or 6. So take your choice, & I will be ready for you but just 
drop me a line on Friday saying in which I am certainly to find you 
here. 

(Private) 

When passing thro Cincinnati] last week on my return from 
Gallipolis, a friend of yours Johnston (the Surveyor Genl) told 
me he had asked Judge Coffin 10 to make you elk of the Superior 
court. Do you know of this? If not think of it. It may suit you, 
give you some income & leave leisure for cultivation. Dont fail 
to write on Friday. 

Yr friend 

Tho Corwin 

W Green Esq. 


10 Charles D. Coffin of Cincinnati, Judge of the Superior Court. 

11 



VIII 


Lebanon 9th Feby 1845 

Gentlemen: 

Yesterday the Dayton stage came to this place with Thirteen 
on it. I am so pressed for time in consequence of the session of the 
com[mon] pleas at Butler next week, that I must be in Columbus, 
on Monday morning next or not at all. I judged it therefore the 
only safe plan to take the first vacant seat. I shall see you I hope 
at the Neal House tomorrow at 8 in the morning. Why have 
we not a railroad from Cincinnati] to the capitol of a State , con¬ 
taining a population equal to frds of the people who captured 
Cornwallis at Yorktown. 

Yr friend 

Messrs Green & Wing, Esqs. Th Corwin 

At Lebanon, Ohio. 


IX 

Washington City 14th Jany 1846 

Dear Green, 

My time is so wasted, (that portion at least not necessarily 
taken up in the senate) that I have not found since my arrival 
here, one poor half hour, that I could devote to such communion 
with a friend—as that relation demands. Just now I have con¬ 
cluded to appropriate that time to you instead of attending a 
wedding at Genl. Jessup’s whither I had intended to go, & should, 
had not one of those impulses, which somehow will be obeyed, 
commanded no , ten minutes ago. 

The Newspapers no doubt keep you accurately informed of 
all the outside transactions here, such as the hopes of War by the 
half civilized Barbarians, that rule our 19th Century Republic, & 
also the fears of War generated by the love of & devotion to 
Mammon which is so strongly felt by a great portion of our 
people, especially on the exposed maritime frontier of the Union. 
I do not intend to say that the men in power hope for war, but 
that those who gave them power wish it, hope for it, not as I be¬ 
lieve for the excusable purpose of vindicating National rights, 
but, because such are gratified by confusion, upturning & sub- 

12 


version of all established things around them. Portions of that 
class however who seem to want war, very much desire that the 
Whigs should seem to oppose it & effectually prevent it, & thus 
derive a pretext for another attack on a vile National prejudice. 
These rogues for the last fifteen years have been setting the 
country on fire & then calling on & relying on the Whigs to ex¬ 
tinguish the flames. We have been a most faithful & efficient 
fire-company for these incendiaries & I begin to ponder the pro¬ 
position to let (for once) the fire have its unchecked & most de¬ 
structive career. If it were any thing less odious than causeless 
war I should feel a strong inclination to offer no opposition to its 
progress. Take the case before us. The cupidity of the nation 
was invoked to transfer the treaty making power under foot in 
order to obtain Texas. This had its origin with Mr. Calhoun 11 & 
his southern slave holding transcendalists. Party profligacy in 
the North & West bartered faith & conscience for participation in 
power, & the villainy succeeded. But the contracting parties at 
the Baltimore] Convention, had stipulated also for the whole 
of Oregon. The election of Polk was the result. The south has ob¬ 
tained Texas by fraud & the West calls on her to seize Oregon by 
force- force to be exerted against John Bull with her 200 Steam 
Vessels & 160 Millions of Leige subjects, not against imbecile, 
distracted Mexico. What follows- The south, this same south, 
comes with pale face & uplifted hands imploring these vile 
Whigs, unpatriotic Federal Whigs, to save them from Polk & the 
insanity of modern reckless, revolutionary Democracy. We say 
to them, Why, how is this? Had you united with us & kept Polk 
out, you see we should have had no sign of war about Oregon, we 
always opposed these movements of yours looking to war either 
for the acquisition of territory or the adjustment of a boundary 
in a remote unsettled & as yet undesirable part of our domain. 
Ah, true says your southern democrat but you Whigs were al¬ 
ways the conservative power to whom the nation looked for 
salvation, so do not disappoint your country’s hope now in her 
hour of extremist peril!! Now is not this cool impudence enough 
to provoke retaliation? Might not a reasonably patriotic spirit 
be willing to say “Ephraim is joined to his Idols,” let him alone. 
Give us credit my friend for Christian fortitude, should we forget 
every thing of this sort, (as we shall) & save these miscreants 

11 John C. Calhoun, U. S. Sen., re-elected 1845. 

13 



from the curse of their own bad conduct. We shall do what is 
right in the premises, irrespective of these considerations, be¬ 
cause their fate & ours are bound up with that of the too confiding 
but still honest Masses who have been deceived & misled in giv¬ 
ing power to weak & wicked men. 

The Cabinet is perfectly mosaic in its hues. Buchanan 12 is 
treated as no gentleman would treat a sensible hireling. For ex¬ 
ample Woodward 13 from Pa. is nominated by the President for 
the vacant seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court, and Buc& 
does not hear of this till a friend drops him a note (in pencil) say¬ 
ing “it has been done yesterday.” Thus Dallas 14 & Walker 15 pre¬ 
vail over “Pennsylvania’s favorite son,” yet the ass bears his 
burden & still shakes his ears, & is Secy of State!! Marcy 16 
trembles between the threats of Barnburners & the indifference 
of Old Hunkers, & will “do what is thought best for the party ,” 
Walker sits in the seat of Alexander Hamilton. His report this 
year assumes that every suggestion of his great Predecessor on 
the same subject is mere visionary crudity!! Bancroft 17 poor fel¬ 
low can write colonial History in diction somewhat oriental, but is 
I fear sadly wanting in that robust sense, so necessary in dealing 
with the straight forward & gallant spirits who have born our 
flag always proudly on the sea. And Polk, 18 God help us, his 
mission is to reform the abuses and save us from the follies of 
George Washington!! Every thing new & hitherto unheard of is 
for that reason true. Every truth realised for a year is, for the 
reason that it is one year old, pronounced an absurdity. Experi¬ 
ence invariably teaches only error. Experiment is the only road 
to safe & sure prosperity!!! Such are the men that rule & such 
the Philosophy of our times. Is there hope of us or for us? I an¬ 
swer yes, as all earthly things (folly amongst others) are not 
eternal, and as God has yet power to “make the breath of man to 
praise him” there is hope, and the streaks of the dawning are 
plainly shooting up, giving cheerful promise of day. 


12 James Buchanan then Sec. of State in Polk's cabinet. 

13 George W. Woodward of Pa. was then President Judge of the Fourth 
District. 

14 George Mifflin Dallas, Vice President, 1844-1849. 

15 Robert J. Walker, Sec. of Treasury at this date, 1846. 

16 William L. Marcy, then Sec. of War. 

17 George Bancroft, then Sec. of Navy. 

18 James K. Polk, President. 


14 



I have only room to acknowledge the receipt of your letters— 
both came safely to hand. 

If the Judgeship in Ohio should be vacant, Vinton 19 
& Schenck, 20 & your unworthy friend to boot will do whatever 
three such can do, to have the right man there. Both these 
gentlemen (& neither are your every day sort) expressed a very 
warm desire to see you on the Bench. Let me obtain your for¬ 
giveness for reminding you that the good opinion of such is worth 
more for here & the hope of hereafter , that twenty years of acci¬ 
dental popular approbation. 

Yr friend 

Tho Corwin 


X 

Washington City 16th June ’46 

Dear Green 

I have considered the subject of your letter long ago, it was 
before our Com[mittee] on Roads & canals very early in the 
Session & but for the present & then anticipated war with Mexico, 
we should have reported a Bill, Hannegan, 21 Jno. Davis 22 & my¬ 
self being a majority. But as our Democracy prefers to pay 
money for blowing out brains, rather than for blowing up & get¬ 
ting round rocks, that impede the progress of the most efficient 
civilizer of our Barberous race—commerce—we must for the 
present submit. 

Today the Secy of the Treas[ur]y 23 reports a debt of 19 millions 
at the end of the year. Every body has known it will be 40. 
This we shall provide for by *treas[ur]y notes & a loan. Texas 
will cost us yet 100 millions of dollars, mark my estimate . 

I sincerely regret the idle stuff in Scott’s 24 correspondence, at 
bottom he has reasonably sound sense. His “plate of soup,” is 
one of the Bubbles that rises to the surface of his mind, indicating 

19 Samuel F. Vinton, Rep. in Cong, from Ohio. 

20 Robert C. Schenck, Rep. in Cong. fr. Ohio. 

21 Edward A. Hannegan, U. S. Sen. fr. Indiana. 

22 John Davis, U. S. Sen. fr. Mass. 

23 See Note 15. 

24 Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott. 


15 




the presence of a little personal vanity. The charges against 
Webster have vanished into thin air as you will have seen I hope 
with pleasure. I am not at liberty to give particulars but you 
may rest assured our difficulties with England are settled—few 
days will divulge the secret. I think they will greatly increase 
the chances of a speedy adjustment of our Mexican troubles. 
We are at this moment perpetrating enormous wrong upon a 
weak & a to us unoffending people, we have robbed her, & now 
kill to secure our plunder. The President began this war & we 
were compelled to get out of his quarrel by fighting for what we 
falsely deem our Honor. We intend to hold the guilty authors 
to a strict account for this. God knows whether the country will 
heed us, at all events we may hope to find “fit audience though 
few.” 

Truly yr friend 

Tho Corwin 


W Green Esq 


XI 


Eaton [Ohio] 6th. Oct 1846 

Dear Greene, 

I am thus far on my way to Greenville. Riding alone in this 
very pleasant weather I could not avoid reflection if I would. I 
of course pondered seriously your attention. I had a very long 
talk with Anderson 25 He is candid, kindly disposed & your true 
friend, fully appreciates your worth, & the extremely disagree¬ 
able position you occupy. But after all, holds that it is & must 
be submitted to. Straight 26 was induced to run by a goodly num¬ 
ber of Whigs, & confident in his strength will not decline, you I 
suppose cannot, & now it only remains to turn all to some good 
account if possible. Perhaps your friends would not go to the 
election but for your sake, & may be the same is true of Straight’s. 
This will increase our vote. So far all is well, the mischief may 
turn up in the end, should it appear that your votes united ex- 

25 Charles Anderson, atty. of Cincinnati. 

26 Thomas J. Straight, atty. of Cincinnati; unsuccessful candidate for 
Cong. 1846. 


16 



ceeds the votes for Farran. 27 This will furnish a negative ex¬ 
ample for future use. 

Wearied with toil, travel & speaking I cannot but moralize 
upon the miseries, follies & the incapability of our race to fulfil 
the object of its creation. What work, what expence, what sac¬ 
rifice it requires to keep us from eating & throttling each other. 
My intimate acquaintance with all grades of our people, satisfies 
me of the mournful fact, that we are far from that promised day 
when “Holiness to the Lord shall be engraved on the belts of the 
horses.” The passive world looks, & is, beautiful, calm, solemn 
& in all senses glorious. It is man alone that mars the great har¬ 
monies of nature. God help us, will prayer avail us? Try it. I 
am off to Greenville in ten minutes. Goodby. 

Tho Corwin. 

W Greene 


XII 

Washington City 14th Deer 1846 

Dear Greene, 

I have written to five Members of the Legislature on the sub¬ 
ject of the Cinci(nnati) Judgeship. Schenck has written to all of 
them with whom he is acquainted. Vinton has also assured me 
he would write Goddard 28 & Coombs 28 , both very active Whigs. 
Now there should be some one on the spot. I say one-two, or two 
hundred would do better, to urge on the Whigs the propriety of 
your election. Look to this yourself, see that it is done. There is 
no other way of salvation in these matters. Write to my nephew, 
Franklin Corwin, he is a member of the Ho. of Reps, from Clin¬ 
ton Co. He is a clever lawyer & a very clever young fellow. I 
have written to him on the subject. 

In haste Yr friend 

W Greene Esq Tho Corwin 

Cinca 


27 James J. Faran, atty of Cin., elected to Congress, 1846. 

28 Charles B. Goddard and Joseph J. Coombs, Mem. of Gen. Assembly of 
Ohio. 


17 



XIII 


Lebanon 30th March 1847 

Dear Sir 

I reed yours of yesterday just now. I have not seen the ar¬ 
ticle to which you refer but I cannot suppose (if it be a covert at¬ 
tack) that the person you suspect of the authorship is the right 
one. He cannot be so unspeakably small, so unutterly mean. 
What is the character of that ambition which could seek to rise 
by such means. The dagger & the bawl are far more honorable 
than a mere insinuated assault. I think I foresee that I must rid 
myself of the suspicion of aspiration. I can do no good while that 
Shirt of Nessus is about me. Besides I am likely to be tempted, 
even as others, to become somewhat more of a scoundrill & a fool 
than it has pleased God to make me. Pray send me the Atlas 29 
that I may see the defense you make, not of me, I dont mean 
that, but of the truth. 

I did receive the invitation you speak of & have concluded to 
decline the dinner. Judge Me Lean’s 30 friends have been making 
against me as I learn charges of attempting to supplant him in 
Ohio. It is an imputation which I so much abhor, that I am de¬ 
termined to give no countenance to it, therefore I shall refuse 
to meet the good men of Cinci[nnati] lest that might be laid hold 
of—yet if I thought public good would be promoted slander 
would not deter me. I have learned to feel indifferent to that 
when duty, clear duty, commands. 

Truly yr friend 

W Greene Tho Corwin 


XIV 

Lebanon Sunday night 11th April ’47 

Dear Greene, 

A little leisure is as dangerous as a little learning, either how¬ 
ever is very agreeable, & I shall not complain of the half hour 
given me just how since it allows me the pleasure of saying a word 
or two to one that I am sure will not care to waste five minutes or 
so in spelling it out. 

29 Cincinnati Daily Newspaper. 

30 Judge John Me Lean. 


18 



I read your “Charles Hammond” 31 with great delight, un¬ 
feigned pleasure. You exposed the deformity, gross abominable 
errors of that unhappy “editorial.” It is true your path was 
plain enough, to you it was so, but not so did it seem to him, who¬ 
ever he was, who lucubrated that miserable jumble of absurdities. 
What struck me was the total ignorance of the author as to Eng¬ 
lish history—“Why, says he, “resort to the turbulent periods of 
British history for precedents” as if witholding supplies by an 
English house of commons was an exception. Does not every 
Tyro know that as soon as the house of commons took this 
ground, they did actually possess themselves of the War making 
power, nay, of the power to regulate the policy of the crown in all 
things. Peace, War, trade, & internal police; If the Commons 
“throws out a Bill” the crown changes heads, in other words 
Russell the free trader upsets Peel and so through the whole 
circle of British policy. 

I felt quite sure the article was not written by the man you 
suspected though I have learned with equal regret & surprise that 
it speaks his sentiments on the subject. I have almost made a god 
unto myself of the Whig party but if it does adopt a vigorous 
prosecution of this War as a dogma believing it (as they declare) 
to be unjust, then I am content to see it uprooted to its founda¬ 
tions. I do not say that an honest man may not honestly hold 
this doctrine, for the wild beast is so predominant in most men 
that I am well aware of the patient painful strength it requires to 
tame the tiger in them. But I see cheering proof from all quar¬ 
ters of the existence of a sound morality on this subject. I have 
hope (dont laugh at me) of the speedy arrival of the time when 
public affairs shall be required to be conducted, on those prin¬ 
ciples of justice & integrity, which every gentleman regards as his 
only proper rule of life. I think the manifest evils of this war, & 
the wicked acts of our rulers, will so shock the moral feeling & 
purse of the country, that the two causes combined must drive 
public men to the adoption of a purer code of political ethics. The 
infernal divinities require too many costly sacrifices—their alters 
will be abandoned. “Si 32 flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta 
movebo” would answer for a heathen prayer, it will not do in the 
19th Century of the Christian Era. 

31 Signature used by William Greene upon newspaper articles. 

32 Verg. aen VII, 312. Trans.: If I cannot bend the gotfs above I will stir 
up Achereon (the lower World.) 


19 



I think the War, so far as bloodshed is in it, is nearly over. 
Mexico is exhausted & can't fight, our purse is growing lank & we 
wont fight. Pardon my want of charity, the powers at Washing¬ 
ton have by trying to pill Taylor, 33 qualified him to be President, 
they will not let Scott, 34 if they can help it, dictate a peace “from 
the Halls, of the Montezumas.” Scott burns to be in the City of 
Mexico but I see he complains at Vera Cruz of want of supplies, 
& I hear that the War Department is endeavoring to stop the 
further purchase of horses & mules under contracts recently made. 
Thus it will turn out that this war was begun & carried on to per¬ 
petuate a dynasty—it will end in its overthrow. Is this strange? 
not at all, all, almost all the wars from the 14th to the 18th Cen¬ 
tury were caused for the same end. Alas, our poor horny-fisted 
democrats little dream that their brains were blown out at Palo 
Alto, Monterey & Bueno Vista, merely to increase the demo¬ 
cratic poll book in Anderson township. Will they ever see through 
it? Some will. The grave of Homer (who said he went to fight 
to find a short cut to political preferment) will make them think. 
At fifty one begins to open his eyes; that half way house between 
two worlds is a marvellously proper college to educate a gentle¬ 
man for eternity , pity that time is not left him here to graduate a 
few, before he, himself, has to quit. But so it has pleased the 
Maker of all. Well we shall have many a hearty laugh over these 
follies when we get to the Elysian fields. I wish Judge Wright 35 
could or would take a calm view of these things with his eyes 
open. He is mystified with expediences & various other “re¬ 
futabilities/ ’ He will find they are naught. 

Schenck 36 has this moment come in & my wife & family are 
returned from church. All send you & yours kindly regards & so 
goodnight. 

W Greene Tho Corwin 

Cinca, Ohio 

33 Zachary Taylor. 

34 Lt. General Winfield Scott. 

35 John C. Wright of Cincinnati. 

36 Robert C. Schenck of Ohio. 


t 


,20 



XV 


(Private) Lebanon 7th June 1847 

Dear Greene, 

In the National] Era which came to me today, I find a para¬ 
graph on Presidential matters which says I have been nominated 
in the northern part of Ohio. I certainly have seen no such nomi¬ 
nation. But the paragraph suggests that I take that occasion to 
decline. I confess myself guilty of pondering much on that sub¬ 
ject, & my reflections have led me to the conclusion that duty as 
well as self respect both required me to do so. I consulted 
Woods 37 & Bebb 38 on this point last week in Hamilton, & they 
both decided against it on one ground, or rather for one only 
reason. They say I represent a certain principle touching the 
Mexican war, that if I decline, those who agree with me can make 
no concerted stand on two points. First the Constitutional rule 
in regard to supplies—the power of Congress over the army & 
when engaged in War, and secondly, the expediency of acquiring 
further territory. 

I see but one aspect in which this suggestion can have any 
force, it is this. In the settlement of these questions Presidential 
aspirants seeing a clique or party of that sort formed, may come 
over more readily to those views in order to gain strength, and 
thus they may become established doctrines. If my pride had 
not long ago (as I humbly trust) been subordinated to what I 
conceive to be my duty, I should not listen to such a proposition, 
but in times like these I do not think any man at liberty to select 
his position in reference to personal feelings. I wish to know what 
you think of this. I assure you that I have not the remotest idea 
that I shall be the candidate, and the question is, shall I permit 
my name to be used as a means to attain the ends above specified, 
that is, the establishment of the principles of Congressional con¬ 
trol in the cases stated, & the abandonment of all further ac¬ 
quisition of territory. 

I engaged your daughter to spend some time with my family 
this summer I hope you will offer no opposition. The present ses¬ 
sion of the Female academy closes in three weeks when I hope she 
may be willing to rusticate with my children for awhile. Mean¬ 
time write me on the matters above suggested. 

37 John Woods was then Auditor of State-Ohio. 

38 Governor William Webb of Ohio, 1846-1848. 

21 



Why dont your city hold a meeting & appoint Deputy to the 
River & Harbor convention at Chicago to be held on the 5th of 
July next? See to this, will you 

Yrs truly 

Tho Corwin. 

W Greene Esq 


XVI 


Lebanon 25th July 1847 

Dear Greene, 

Your letter with that of Geffi Greene inclosed reached me 
this morning. 

I was very much pressed by Mosely 39 & others from Buffalo, & 
some of the Boston delegation to visit these two places this sum¬ 
mer. Under ordinary circumstances such a trip would be delight¬ 
ful, but as matters now stand I am not sure but duty to myself 
requires, that I should forego both the pleasure & utility of it. 
In the first place my own affairs demand my personal attention. 
In the second place, there are those in Ohio who would construe 
such a visit to mean on my part every thing but what it really did 
mean. I have seen already enough in the quarter to which I allude, 
to satisfy me that everything I may do or say, will be misunder¬ 
stood & tortured into something never dreamed of by me. I 
heard enough at Chicago to warrant me in this conclusion. 
Burnt in effigy, reviled & villified by all the Loco focos in the 
Union & only just tolerated by a large portion of the Whigs, yet it 
seems I am nevertheless by some considered as a hopeful applicant 
& very much in the way of better men. It was to avoid if pos¬ 
sible all appearance of evil, that I declined even answering the 
call to accept a dinner in Cinci(nnati) this spring. I still cling to 
the belief that the Whig party only can save us a government 
worth having, & I fear disunion in that party quite as much as a 
dismemberment of the States. I may be wrong in this, I can’t 
help it. I am resolved as a matter of public duty, to do nothing 
which may tend to alienate the feelings of the leading men of that 
party, towards each other. All this is in perfect confidence. I may 
add that I have been solicited to visit Boston on the ground that 


39 Judge Daniel Mosely of Buffalo. 

22 



it would prevent the nomination (as far as N[ew] England was 
concerned) of Genl Taylor or any one else but myself. Though I 
have no idea Much would be the result, yet I doubt not it would be 
charged that such was my motive. I shall be in Cinci(nnati) all 
the next two weeks & will then show you the letters the grounds 
for what, otherwise you might consider idle fancies in me. If any 
thing should occur to change these views & I can spare the time, 
I may go with you. I go to the Circuit court this day. 

Yrs truly 

W Greene Tho Corwin 


XVII 


Lebanon, 3d Sept. 1847 

Dear Greene, 

I had considered, & decided on the subject of your letter, be¬ 
fore I reed it. I reconsidered the case, & could not find enough 
in the newly discovered evidence to reverse the decree. The 
death of Governor] Wright 40 is favorable to the right adjustment 
of all questions growing out of the Mexican War. It drives the 
Democratic party to take either Van Buren 41 or Benton, 42 or 
Woodberry. 43 

Van Buren was opposed to the War & every folly that led to 
it. Benton is in the same category & whether he is the candidate 
or not, will I predict at the next session play the Oregon game 
over again. How! His notions of boundary will confine him to 
the Neuces. He can take the desert from thence to the Rio 
Grande & pay for it the debts due our citizens. The Rio Grande 
is then the boundary, of Texas , & Texas is in the Union. The 
Wilmot Proviso 44 can’t apply to her, no other territory being ac¬ 
quired the Wilmot Proviso dies , & with it Calhoun 45 & his 

40 Silas Wright of New York, elected Governor, 1844, renominated 1846 
but defeated. 

41 In 1848 an unsuccessful Presidential candidate of the section of Demo¬ 
crat party termed Barnburners or Freesoilers. 

42 Thomas Hart Benton, U. S. Sen. 

43 Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire. 

44 Proviso excluding slavery from the territories. 

46 John C. Calhoun. 


23 



southern party. Cass 46 being of that party, falls with it, & so 
Benton has the field clear for himself or Van Buren as the Balti¬ 
more] Convention shall decide. To all this, Van Buren, from 
consistency & interest will agree. If Woodberry is taken, he 
being a northern man, cannot be “got up,” unless he conciliates 
Northern votes by a stand in favor of limiting slavery. This if 
done kills him in the South. He will not be run unless by a di¬ 
vision South & North of the Democrats, in such event he might 
be run by the southern party. 

Thus I infer that Democracy, or the wing of it, will aid us, in 
setling the War, without acquisition of new territory. There is 
therefore less necessity than before for Whig effort on this sub¬ 
ject. 

But suppose we rely only on Whigs. Why go to Western 
N[ew] York & Boston to stir them up, they as their papers show, 
are all right on this point. I have full information both by 
letters & papers on this subject. The danger lies in the gun¬ 
powder stupidity of Pennsylvania Whigs, & the crack brained 
chivalry of Kentucky. 

The only effect therefore of my visit to Buffalo & Boston, 
would be, to rouse a strong moral feeling against the war, & thus 
to some extent, produce an Anti-Taylor party there. To this I 
will in no way contribute, while my name is even remotely asso¬ 
ciated (as it is now) with the Presidency. Don’t imagine now, 
that I have any idea that my visit & speaking there , or elsewhere, 
would supplant Genl Taylor, Judge McLean or anybody else. 
I only say it might to some extent , bring me somewhat more promi¬ 
nently before the people, and it would certainly be ascribed as 
my motive. 

If it were an indispensable public duty , I think I could do it, in 
defiance of all consequences, as it is not so, in my view of it, I 
feel justified in staying at home. Am I right or not—say to me 
what you think of it. 

Truly yr friend 

W. Greene, Esq. Tho Corwin 

46 He resigned his place in U. S. Sen. upon his nomination, May 1848, as a 
candidate for the Presidency. 


24 



XVIII 


Washington, 24th Deer ’47 

Dear Greene, 

I reed yours today. Judge Wright asked me at 

Columbus who I preferred for Pres[iden]t. I answered Clay 47 if 
we can get him. Who next? I answered as matters now stand , 
Judge McLean. 

I said this sincerely . I will never vote for Taylor, until I know 
what he thinks & what he will do on certain vital points. If Scott 
were a candidate & at home I might pause, as I have much better 
opinion of him than many of my friends. I have not now , nor 
never had the remotest belief that I should be selected & have, 
only witheld a positive declination at the earnest entreaty of 
some, yourself amongst them, who thought good might come 
from the maintaining of my present position. I so cordially de¬ 
test the little arts by which I see these great events are managed, 
that I feel self degraded so long as I have even a remote con¬ 
nexion with the subject. I may express to you a sentiment or 
principle which I have always felt, but seldom if ever expressed. 
I would never accept the first office in the world, being the second 
choice. What I receive from the world, shall be on fair terms & 
in its judgment, for a full equivalent, or I will eat roots & drink 
ditchwater. Fabricius or some such barbarian lived on that sort 
of diet, & so can, & will I, rather than crawl on my belly, as was 
the fate of Eve’s snake, as Moses has written it. 

Yr friend 

W Greene Tho Corwin 

P. S. I forgot what I took up my pen to write. I will see Vinton 
& Schenck & we will present you fairly. 


XIX 

Washington City 24th Jany 1848 

Dear Greene, 

I am your debtor by several letters. Your views on the 
general subject of Public affairs, are just my own, & I only wonder 
in blank amazement that they are not universal. I of course 


47 Henry Clay. 


25 




except from this remark what you say touching the use of my 
name as a candidate by our Ohio Convention. I cannot, could 
not agree with you, & I wrote to three of the leading men of the 
convention, giving my reasons at some length. I cannot believe 
that the assertion of a principle merely, through the recom¬ 
mendation of a man, connected with it, is of value to be weighed 
against that disunion amongst them, having a common end in 
view, which would have taken place in Ohio, by disappointing the 
friends of Judge McLean, & some few Whigs, who adhere to 
Genl Taylor. I have never been able to see clearly , how the re¬ 
tention of my name as a candidate was to produce lasting good 
to the country, & I have often felt that it might be, that my own 
vanity or selfishness prevented me from doing in this, as I have 
tried to do, in all other public matters, just what my own sense of 
duty & propriety should dictate. I have in this instance sacrificed 
some feeling & my own judgment to the opinions & wishes of 
many good men in Ohio & a few elsewhere. I think events are 
near at hand, which will release me from a most unpleasant po¬ 
sition. 

I have some private griefs, which prey upon me with inces¬ 
sant effect in despite of all my philosophy. I owe debts, not of my 
own contracting , but nevertheless debts which I must & will pay. 
I wish to do this without parting with a certain farm. You will 
smile, but it is so. I cannot willingly see the home of my father, 
on which his whole family lived in happy contentment pass out 
of my hands. I wish to end my days there in peaceful obscurity 
as did a good man before me. To this end I intend to appropriate 
myself, for the next two or three years, to the best advantage 
and this brings me to the main object of this letter. 

What can an industrious lawyer earn in the year in Cincin¬ 
nati? I mean one who will give himself wholly to business, with 
good health, & a capacity to work equal to any other. Give me 
as soon as you can an answer to this question. In a few months 
the final action of Congress will be had, on the Mexican War. 
When that is accomplished I can with a clear conscience, leave 
my seat in the senate to any good Whig. I wish this to be known 
to no one, as I hold a man has no right to inflict his own sorrows, 
or misfortunes, on the world, especially as in all such cases, that 
same world, is likely only to shrug its shoulders & pass on its own 
way. Nor should I have stated my case even to you, but that 


26 


I ask counsel, & have no right to conceal any part of it from my 
attorney. 

We have a reasonably well authenticated rumor this morning 
to this effect. Trist 48 has made a treaty with Mexico. The Rio 
Grande to be the boundary of Texas, from its source to its 
mouth, & we take Upper California, paying for it 15 Millions. 
God grant this may be so. Peace on any terms is a blessing. 

Let me hear from you soon. 

Yrs very truly 

W. Greene Tho Corwin 


XX 


Dear Greene 


Washington City 8th March 1848 


.You have seen, I dare say, the speculations 

of the papers, letter writers &c. on the subject of the expected 
Peace. We shall have Peace whether the present treaty be rati¬ 
fied or not. If the treaty now before us should not be ratified 
either by us or Mexico, such measures will be adopted as will 
doubtless end in a speedy adjustment of all our present difficul¬ 
ties. I have an abiding impression that any acquisition of Terri¬ 
tory will only furnish an apology, perhaps a necessity, for taking 
more & thus lead to the final absorption of Mexico & her mongrel 
millions. 

Yrs. truly 

Tho Corwin 


XXI 


Senate Chamber, 16th March 1848 


Dear Greene, 


.We have ratified a sort of treaty, not 

Trist’s 48 by many things more or less important. We have sent a 
fiery fire eater to bluster & scare Mexico into an agreement to 


48 Nicholas P. Trist. The treaty secured by him was submitted by Presi¬ 
dent Polk to the Senate where it was ratified, Mar. 10, 1848. 

27 





give one third of her country to us this year, with an implied un¬ 
derstanding that the ballance is to be swallowed when our anglo- 
saxon gastric juices shall clamor for another Cannibal breakfast. 

If you would learn what is to come of all this, throw away 
newspapers, philosophy, and history, and read a certain Chapter 49 
in “Revelations.” The opening of the sixth seal will explain all. 

You are to eulogize old John 60 of Quincy. Do so, and say he 
was always honest, often mistaken, and disowned of a Republic 
like Plato. Hemlock killed Socrates, a loco foco vote struck 
down Adams. I know not which most to pity for their silly 
philanthropy. 

Yr friend 
Tho Corwin 


XXII 

Washington 15th June 1848 

Dear Sir 

I reed your letter yesterday. I concur with you in the course 
you propose to pursue, & for the sole reason you assign. “We 
have a country to save.” If I could see any future beyond ’52 
Cass being President in the meantime, I would not vote for Genl 
Taylor, nor would I have asked a convention to name my candi¬ 
date with any prospect of his nomination , had I not thought it a 
crisis, demanding the United Whig strength of the country, to 
save from the certain ruin, that must follow the adoption of the 
present dogmas, of the Loco foco party. Can we carry Taylor in 
Ohio? Tell me the truth about [it?]. I fear the result there. Am 
I right? Let me know the worst. 

Truly yr friend 

Tho Corwin 

W. Greene Esq. 

49 Sixth Chapter of Revelations, v. 12. 

50 John Quincy Adams. 


28 




XXIII 


Washington City Dec. 24th, ’48 

Dear Sir 

I reed your letter & with it the "Charles Hammond”, 51 this is 
undoubtedly the only clear legal & logical presentation of the 
subject which has hitherto met my eye. It is just such an argu¬ 
ment as without saying too much, leaves nothing more to be said. 
If reason has any agency in human affairs (which I have much 
doubted for some time) it must tend powerfully, wherever read, 
to bring the public mind to its right position. 

The free soil movement at Columbus to which you hereby 
allude, is as yet all shrouded in mystery here, I can find no one 
able (or willing if they can) to give me its aspect its tendency or 
distinct aims. Pray write me fully on this point. I have suspected 
some of the leaders of that party long, for selfish motives. The 
entire abandonment of the rank & file, to the orders of the 
officers in that party, will render it a great curse unless the pur¬ 
est motive with the highest intelligence combine to animate & 
direct those officers. 

I dare say you feel anxious to know what signs of coming toils 
& honors are apparent here. All is doubt & darkness, the keenest 
scented hound in the kennell here has not a nose sensible or sensi¬ 
tive enough, to track the great secret to its den- the silent uncom¬ 
municative bosom of "Old Zach.” 52 One thing- one solitary fact 
is known, known even to me, he will make no selections, with one 
exception till he comes here & advises with such as he shall choose 
to consult. Thereupon arises certain grave doubts. Who is this 
one exception! What darling Unit! What solitary great one , of 
the 800 millions of God’s creatures now living on the surface of 
the planet is he! The very ladies sigh to hear "that one loved 
name,” & sink back in hopeless blank ignorance of the mighty 
secret. And then again, Who will he choose to consult? If you 
but breathe that fearful interrogation, the terrified gentleman 
thus addressed will glance furtively & fearfully around & with 

51 Article published in Ohio State Jour. Dec. 21, 1848, and Washington 
National Intelligencer, Dec. 28th. foil. It is headed “The True State of the 
Case” and signed “Charles Hammond” and is an exposition of the difficulties 
in the Ohio Legislature occasioned by two sets of claimants to right to seats, 
showing that the Whigs were right in the controversy. 

52 Zachary Taylor. 


29 



silent footfall approach you, his eyes meantime seem multiplied 
into the full ocular equipment of Argils, and his hand pressed on 
one side of his nose till the blood settles under his finger nails, his 
mouth screwed into the dimensions of a hand-bellows nozzle & 
with this projected into the very tympanum, he will sibbilate in 
interjected semi monosyllables Tru-ru-u-m-a-a-n 53 Sm-i-i-th!!! 
Then you may see querist & repliant fly apart, & stare wildly at 
each other for an instant, & with a loud snort, like a wild horse 
when he jumps in a dark night over a chunk of “Fox fire”, both 
collapse into the ordinary thoughts of mortal men. 

I take this, & such like symptoms in the great diseased public 
mind to indicate the existence of a malady something more to be 
dreaded than Cholera & Soft soap & mustard are all ineffectual to 
cure this new chronic sickness of the immortal souls of men. 
There are two Maiden ladies, very ancient & like all old things 
not very lovely, who are doomed to visit these aspirants both the 
fortunate & the unfortunate. Their names are Disappointment 
& Regret. The last named will sting with sickness of the heart & 
fury of the brain all such as fail in their hopes. The first will come 
to disenchant the eyes of the successful & strip the object gained 
of half, perhaps all its charms. 

But I am quite forgetful of my object in writing you, who do 
you believe will be senator in case organization is possible? Who, 
Judges! If I have correspondents at Columbus they are so full 
of insurrection they have entirely forgotten me. 

Yr friend 

W Greene Esq Tho Corwin 

Cinci, Ohio 


XXIV 

Washington Jany 31st ’49 

Dear Greene, 

I reed your last from Columbus this morning. You had pre¬ 
pared me for the result announced in y [ou]r letter. I had come to 
the conclusion that the two “ballance of power” gentlemen were 
arrant knaves, & should have been disappointed had they acted 

53 He was Rep. in Cong. fr. Conn., 1839-1841; 1845 & 1847; and elected 
U. S. Sen. 1849, resigned 1854. 


30 




otherwise than as rogues should act. My friend we must get back 
to the Westminster Confession. “Man is altogether depraved” & 
without Almighty constraining grace incapable of a good word, 
thought or deed. I think we shall have facts for that hence¬ 
forth. 

So you want State secrets! There are none here, or if here 
they are studiously concealed from me & such as I would be- 
gentlemen-1 mean. Should you know my conjectures- here they 
are, Crittenden 54 or Clayton 55 Secy of State, T. Smith 56 or Evans 57 
Treas[ur]y, perhaps Lawrence, 58 , C B Smith 59 P. M. Gen[era]l. If 
Ewing 60 (who I believe should) get the treasury, then Lawrence 
may be Secy of the Navy. You may fill up the others with any 
man you think of & be as near the future truth as I am. You see 
we have sent young Cass 61 to Rome- a dandy of the stupid sort. 
Is he not a Marvellous proper man to seize the spirit which 
heaves all Europe from its foundations!!! What function besides 
has a Minister now at Rome. Nay what can he do without such 
power at this time any where in Europe. Who are our Mighty 
ones there. In Paris Richard Rush 62 a senile Pedant. In Lon¬ 
don Bancroft, 63 a hypocrit in Religion & politics & something a 
little better in letters. At Vienna Donaldson 64 a horse Jockey!!! 
O, Model Republic, thou who dost move in the front of the pres¬ 
ent solemn Exodus of Nations these are thy great ones!! Will it 
be better for the next four years? Ask the future, that obstinate 
dame that will not answer, question her importunately as you 
will. Let us hope- there is some pleasure in chasing the butterfly, 


54 John J. Crittenden, at this time Governor of Kentucky, having resigned 
from U. S. Sen. 

55 John M. Clayton, U. S. Sen. but chosen Sec. of State under Prest. 
Taylor. 

66 Truman Smith. 

57 Probably George Evans of Maine, who had been Rep. in Cong, and 
U. S. Sen. In 1849 he was Comr. of Board of Claims agst. Mexico. 

68 Abbott Lawrence declined Prest. Taylor’s invitation into his cabinet, 
later was minister plen. to London. 

59 Caleb B. Smith, leaving Cong. 1849, was appointed comr of Board of 
claims agst. Mexico. 

60 Thomas Ewing became Sec. of Interior, 1849. 

61 Lewis Cass, Jr. Charges d’Affaires at Rome. 

62 Richard Rush of Pa. was Minister Plen. at Paris. 

63 George Bancroft, Minister Plen. at London. 

64 Andrew J. Donelson, Minister Plen. at Vienna. 


31 



though his golden tints all disappear the moment we touch his 
wings. 

When I know or believe any thing I will instantly inform you 
what it is 

Yr friend 

W Greene Tho Corwin 


XXV 

Washington 22d March ’49 

Dear Sir 

We are locked up. the only leisure we have is here . The mo¬ 
ment the doors open we are each and all beseiged, literally cap¬ 
tured. 

Minnesota is assured. The only new patronage we had, & it 
was indeed a difficult game of chess- the way it was played I will 
explain when I see you. No vancancies will be created just now . 
Were it not for Benton’s move on the Mexican “Protocal” we 
could adjourn in ten minutes. Perhaps we shall get away on 
Saturday or Monday next. 

Private 

Genl Green 65 & myself have agreed to wait a day or two after 
the adjournment. We shall place you right on the Record, our 
doct(?) will be signed by some of the best men in the senate. We 
shall propose a mission first & a Consulate in failure of that. 

T C. 


XXVI 


Lebanon 6th Sept. 1849 

Dear Greene, 

I reed your letter yesterday. I cannot say in truth that I re¬ 
gretted the determination it announced. I should have been 
glad, if the kind of service you could render had been at the com¬ 
mand of the Gov[ernmen]t in that place, and yet with you, I 

65 Albert C. Greene, Sen. from Rhode Island, 1845-1851. 

32 



much believe, the Republic has problems of higher import for you 
to solve. Why they don’t know this, is a problem too, & one for 
which I can furnish no rational solution. I was told by an old 
stager when in Cin[cinna]ti that I was a child in such matters. I 
hope I shall never reach majority, that is, in his sense of the word, 
yet if I must be put on my "voir dire” I am bound to say, that I 
think I understand these matters like a man but am not quite 
ready to prosecute them like a knave. In good truth & soberness, 
when we look at the naked facts of present as well as past history, 
manly modesty , seems quite excluded from the boards, & strutting 
pretension, with a dash of hypocritical reverence for some ideal 
of the hour is deafened with plaudits from the pit to gallery.You 
will find the benefit of this latter fellow well patronized. If he 
dies soon he is happy & Clio embalms him for the admiration of 
posterity- if he lives long, his history is apt to be somewhat less 
enviable. 

Will you without naming it to any one name to me as soon as 
possible a man for this place, in Cin[cinna]ti. Let him be honest; 
have a good capacity for legal & logical investigation, and a will 
to work, a Trinity of virtues you will say somewhat rare. I ought 
to add that he will be likely, to be the more acceptable, should he 
belong to the genus “Young Whiggery.” Perhaps this last acci¬ 
dent, with the Supreme powers might be indispensable. Have not 
all natural Animal bodies, tails as well as heads? Butler thought 
so, it may be so. (God forgive my treason) “in this our day & 
time”. Do you remember the Analogy of the Fly, not in Butler’s 
Analogy, but in that other Butler’s Hudibras, 

“Thus as a fly that goes to bed, 

“Sleeps with its tail above its head, 

“So, in this Commonwealth of ours, 

“The rabble are the Supreme powers—” 

Don’t understand me as meaning any thing like the poet’s 
thought- the very reverse of it. I only intended to signify that 
our kings at Washington like other monarchs of former times may 
indulge a penchant for low company. 

Would you account for the foregoing nonsense- a shower 
is falling & I can’t get out of doors. God bless you. 

Tho. Corwin 


33 


XXVII 


Washington City 13th July 1850 

Private 
Dear Sir 

I reed your letter this morning, The general belief here is that 
a total change in the Cabinet is certain. I think it will be so. I 
regret this as to one at least, who, I think all things considered, 
should be retained. But I have no doubt all will go. 

At present the succession is not settled. Webster is most 
likely to go into the State Dept. The loss of Genl Taylor just 
now, more than at any other time, was a sore National calamity. 

In a week or two, we shall know who is who; I shall not fail 
to make known your wishes & press your claims. 

Yrs truly 

Tho Corwin 


XXVIII 

Washington 29th Dec r . 1850 

Dear Greene 

Do you ever perpetrate that grossest of all official indiscre¬ 
tions, writing a letter not on public business, or in your case, 
business of the Company? Did Cadmus 66 really intend, when he 
took letters to Greece anything beyond Accounts, Bills of Ex¬ 
change, & Ballance Sheets? I doubt it. It seems a long long 
time since I had a right free conversation with a sensible man. 
O, for a single day in some quiet sunny spot with a good book & a 
true friend! This cruizing for political Pirates is a savage, hard 
Herculean sort of work. It requires such keen villainous circum¬ 
spection, such vigilant wakeful disquietude, such labor of the 
brain & such a tough leathery heart. God forgive me the sin of 
entering upon such a work. It has ruined a rather clever good 
for nothing sort of a friend of yours. I am in grim earnest when I 
assure you I have no credence in me, I believe nothing, hope 
nothing, fear nothing, love nothing, hate nothing. Why should 
I believe anything! Have I not seen a plain truth within my own 
personal knowledge made into a palpable lie in the judgment 


66 Reference to the bringing of the old Phonecian alphabet to Greece. 

34 



of every body else, Why should I hope for any thing. Have I not 
seen men live in hopeful visions that might have delighted Na¬ 
poleon & in a single day bowed down to the dust under crushing 
disappointment. Why should I love anything- The thing I love 
today smites me with hatred & obloquy tomorrow. And again 
why hate anything since God made it only to live for a moment 
& howsoever much I abhor it today I find it withering in the 
gripeof decay or death tomorrow. And to sum up all why com¬ 
plain! The old philosophy is still now & must ever be eternally 
true. “Man walketh in a vain shadow & disquieteth himself in 
vain.” So give croaking to the dogs & Ho! for a happy New Year 
to you, which you shall have if prayer of mine can bring it. 

Have you seen a leaden production entitled “A Treas[ur]y 
Report.” It was intended to be so dull that democracy would 
fall asleep in the reading of it, Modest & stupid as it was upon 
1 ‘protection incidental”, the free trade dogs have set up a Howl 
throughout the entire kennel of such. More’s the pity for the 
afor[sai]d dogs. 

Shall I ever see you on this side of the Styx! Do promise me 
on your honor to live till the 1st of April “next ensuing”, I will 
be in Cinci[nnati] on that day & if Mexican-Claim-fees fail not, 
I will “then & there” pay off a certain debt which to my infinite 
discomfort, hath been “of record” in your temple of Mammon 
for (God forgive me) oh, how long. Do you ever look out on the 
world? How quiet it has grown. French Communism is content 
to eat frogs & over a pint of “Vin Ordinaire” spout for Liberty 
equality & fraternity. That is easier work than running pikes 
through the bodies of children upon Barricades. I did think a 
month ago that we should have a brush between the Branden- 
burghs & the Hapsburghs. What a grand affair that had been. 
One little German Dukedom fairly on fire & I think all Europe 
would be somewhat singed. How it would raise the price of Pork 
& Lard! If Baden Baden were drenched six inches deep in gore, 
every acre of Miami lands would be worth two dollars more than 
now!! Oh, rascally Baden Baden, why will you not bleed, that 
honest farmers in Ohio might send little Jonathan to school & 
sweet smart little Keziah learn French. That King of Prussia is a 
queer chap. He calls out the Land Wher [Wehr?] & so the Land 
Wher will not be called in. The old companions of Blucher 
swear they must have a fight. King of Prussia says, no you shall 
not fight now , whereupon your whiskered Hussar resigns his 

35 


commission & swears he will not fight hereafter. Is it not very 
vexatious to be cheated out of our amusements, quite as bad as 
a rainy night when Jenny Lind sings. Well we shall at least have 
the satisfaction of some butchering on the other side of the line. 
Brazil & Buenos Ayres must & shall fight. But what is that to 
us, the rascals will get their flour from Chili & their Beef from the 
.Pampa’s, & we shall not make a cent by it. What dreadful times 
we have. Alas, for us. I see no way open but the old stupid prac¬ 
tice of our silly fathers, that of working for an honest living. It is 
hard but I shall try to submit. A few months ago there was some 
hope that Barnwell Rhett 67 of South Carolina would make war 
“ad internecionem” upon thirty-one sovereign States & destroy 
them too- of course he would. But Barnwell’s liver all at once 
abated its Billious operations & he like a fool as he is, preferred a 
seat in the senate of the same States, with “pay & mileage”. 
Alas, for the age, I believe Pluck expired at Buena Vista, chivalry 
went out like a tallow candle with a stench, at Chepultepec 
Page the 4th almost filled & not a word you wish to read. 
Served you right, as you have written nothing & been sitting 
quietly this whole year with your excellent wife & charming Kate 
by your side & I have been chained like a bear to my stake I am 
entitled to revenge upon you & I have it, for I am sure you will 
read on in the belief that the fool will certainly cease his babbling 
after awhile & so find at last nothing of sober truth in this mortal 
sheet but that ever recurring, often lying, (but upon the honor 
of him who was once a gentleman) in this case a most veritable 
& sincere addendum. 

Your true & faithful friend 

Tho Corwin 


XXIX 

Sunday 3 oclock 6th April ’51 

Dear Greene, 

I sincerely thank you for the slip from the Enquirer. I have 
not seen a scrap of that kind so long, that I began to think I was 
certainly “functus” effete, & of no use in the world. This assures 

67 Robert Barnwell Rhett in the Congress of 1849 advocated the dissolu¬ 
tion of the Union. 


36 



me I am yet of some account. By the way I do wish this poor 
Devil may repeat his lie in some more exact form. As I expect to 
have some leisure soon I could occupy it in settling the business 
with him in “due course of law”, not that the play would pay for 
the candle, but it would be something in the way of example. 
The editor (whoever he is) was born a blackguard, stung by the 
eminent success of some of his compeers he aspires to the reputa¬ 
tion of a liar. Poor Devil, he can’t succeed. I pity him. Do you 
want the facts? Here they are. 

Two years ago a lawyer of this city asked me for a written 
opinion on a claim under the Florida treaty. It was for spoliation 
committed by our troops in 1813. He said if the Treas[ur]y De- 
p[artmen]t gave a favorable decision he would give me $2000 
for my argument. If not nothing. I gave the opinion. The 
whole subject was referred at that time to the Att[orne]y Gen- 
[era]l who never gave an opinion & it fell into Crittenden’s hands 
where it now is. When I was asked to take the Treas[ur]y I ob¬ 
jected as this case might come before me. Wm Cost (?) Johnson 
my client came to me, he gave me a release of all obligations a^ 
att[orne]y & I released all claim to the contingent fee of Two 
thousand dollars. When the surgeon got at me, Judge Berrian, 
now concerned in the case, insisted upon the appointment of 
Graham ad interim, who could act in that business (I having of 
course declined acting in it & proposing to resign to give way for 
some one who could or would act in it.) Graham was appointed- 
a good lawyer, a man of unapproachable purity. He & Crittenden 
have the business in hand. I am quite sure from what I learn, 
they will decide adversely to the claim. And lo! my contingent 
$2000 will turn out like the paragraph you sent me, all a lie, even 
had I never seen the Treas[ur]y Dep[artmen]t. Now with a 
decision against the claim & my release also of all right to fees, 
before it was decided, in the hands of Johnson- under seal- what 
a peculation I shall make of it. Alas, poor stupid fool, no one 
believes his lie but still he shows his dexterity in falsehood, & in 
time may rise in the profession of detractions. Miserable Devil, 
he would sell his soul to the torments of Hell for $2000 & very 
naturally concludes I would be guilty of the like crime if I could. 
But let him run, he will in due time go “to his own place.” 

I am perfectly well- better than I have been for two years. I 
do everything in the Treas[ur]y but sign Warrants. I have 
grown quite judicial, I condemn a ship & cargo- value $300,000 

37 


& take a segar!!! Ones virtue grows marvellously tractable by 
practice. 

And on the table tea & toast 

Death Warrants &- “the Morning Post.” So I think Tom 
Moore describes the morning “fix” of George the 4th. Well some 
one must sign death warrants & the same gentleman must have 
tea too, so why not mingle the useful with the sweet. Omne tulit 
punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, is a maxim as old as Horace & 
quite as good as many other Roman proverbs. I have something 
to say of these same Romans. But if you have not read Merivale 
I shall have a fight on my “Hypothesis”. God bless you & 
good bye. 

Tho Corwin 


XXX 

Washington City 31st Aug 1851 

' Dear Greene, 

I reed your letter this morning. I reed and read your excel¬ 
lent (shall I be charged with flattery when I say) your incom¬ 
parable pamphlet, so I deem it. What is it, great practical 
truths reasoned out with the precision of mathematical science. 
Truths almost forgotten, alas, in this age of hurry & agitations, 
& great clashing of the coarse material interests of men. How I 
do long, how my heart sobs for a short respite from the details 
of public affairs that my thoughts once more might feed & lux¬ 
uriate upon the great problems of Man’s true interests & the 
peculiar civilization planted in our political systems & National 
destinies. I must and will have it. 

I earnestly pray for your peace of mind. Preserve that my 
friend & you are rich & great & good. Arm yourself & go into 
the battle of politics, I mean the actual field fights, & bid adieu 
to that grace which enables you to possess your soul in patience. 
Present me warmly to your excellent wife & daughter & allow 
me always to write myself 

Your friend 


iWilliam Greene, Esq. 


Tho Corwin 












































































































































































































































































































































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